Yawn... Monday again eh? And the one after we spring forward, no less. I was never one of those people bothered by the time changes but when you wake up at 6:30am and think "by the light in the room I've got about an hour" then grab your phone and see "nope" then the internal groan happens.
Lots happened over the past week so let me catch you up. I finally got all of the Christmas stuff down last week! 😂 I know, it sounds appalling but with the daily prospect of financial insecurity in the world's worst job market and the bathroom handing you a new problem with each step of progress you're trying to make, taking down the Christmas crap doth not rank high on the list. I had a stack of boxes I'd been saving in case we have to start selling crap and I finally broke those down because I was pretty sure they were going to just eat me at some point. So that stuff all made a difference in space obviously. I got the parts I needed Thursday for the last "us" project in the bathroom but some parts needed super glued together and rub n buffed (a verb in DIY world) so I got on that. Of course the part I got from le Depot didn't thread through despite it being the size it needed to be so those had to go back and order the next size down from Michael's and I got the first coat of wax on that.
But what did I come up with in the meantime? Well, y'all know I was talking about getting a little garden going and that was going to be essentially the only 4' swath available on our townhome patio. You can get a lot out of a space like that and this video will convince you. But as I thought about that little spot and the four food grade 5 gallon buckets I'd be using, I looked at the arbor/couch area. We have another 6' potentially available to us in the only sunny section IF I could turn the couch the other way. I mulled it, scared to mention it to the Mr because in addition to the stuff we're already dealing with, he has to study for a test he needs to complete early summer. His anxiety level is through the roof. I'd already talked him into building the small planter because it would save us money from buying a prefab one we had to put together even with the squirrel cage we have to build. (Seriously, they are rat bastard squatters constantly trying to take over even our 3 year empty patio.) If I add another one to the mix, he's going to wig out. I figured screw it and mentioned the idea. He blankly stared then grabbed the measuring tape. We measured where I wanted the arbor to go and it looked like it would fit where needed. We measured how we could flip our monster grill, the space needed, where we could flip flop stuff, etc. Would it be tight? Yes. Could we invest all of this time and money for it to tank? Yep. But in the end, the cost of building these pieces as well as the squirrel cages needed would be the same as if I bought the small planter and had it shipped. My brain has been flooded with all things gardening ever since. Friday night's workout was going to Lowe's and picking through 5,228 boards to find ones that weren't warped, split or had chonky knots. I think we got the last ones. We loaded everything into the car and got it into the house. It was 8pm before we ate and we were both exhausted and sore for some reason. We said we'd play the road trip by ear if we still felt as bad.
Saturday, I heard him showering so I assumed the road trip was on. Probably not a good one involving Portillo's and a three hour drive but still. I got a shower, actually ironed an outfit so I didn't look like I walked out of the land fill for once and went down. It was 10:30am by that time and road tripping time was slipping away. It looked like he wanted to work on the bathroom and I started tearing up. We'd worked on that friggin bathroom every single weekend for 8 weeks in a row and depending on how Friday goes, frivolous road trips may be out. We drove to a spot about two hours away and honestly it was just a longer lunch run. We went to a park and sat by the water and just listened to the silence.
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| Weird to see it without lily pads yet. |
It was pretty windy but we turned off the car so not even the engine fan was going. No cars, no planes, no people just peace for once. The last time I had complete quiet like that was listening to the fire going in Vermont and it felt amazing. It's really sad when our world is so noisy on every level (cue neighbors dog barking as I typed that) that noticing something like no noise feels foreign.
We enjoyed that for a little bit and then my brain started firing up again and I realized I may have forgotten something in my calculations for the planter boxes. I grabbed the phone and looked at what we bought Friday night and whoops, perhaps buying enough wood for, you know, bottoms would be good. As much as I'd like it to levitate in mid-air, probably not gonna happen. I felt the Mr's mood toward the project shift. I know why. I know it sucks but these were inexpensive pieces so we didn't have a choice or else we'd have to just trim it down to the one big planter. We stopped at a different location and picked up the rest of what we needed and got it unloaded into the garage. Then we essentially zoned into our own stuff the rest of the night. Him watching Dark Matter and me furiously watching gardening videos and asking questions about stuff needed that he didn't want to hear on that project. Noted. While he was grabbing dinner, I made the homestyle equivalent of those bags of "roasters" from the frozen section. Essentially just red potatoes and onions that you chuck into the oven but they're way oversalted. For the price I paid for one bag of red potatoes, I got four sides out of it. The price you pay for convenience - no more. So I half roasted them, pulled them out to cool and got them divided up into the fridge then later the freezer. After they're set, pop 'em out and Food Saved so I can throw them into the oven the rest of the way on whatever night they're needed and boom.
Sunday we knew would be our work day of the weekend. We chatted in bed for a bit and got up and around. I pre-marked some stuff on trim boards then made ground turkey breast burgers and baked fries. We made holes where needed and then touch up paint which we had to let dry so out to the patio for some final measurements. We're doing a 5 1/2' planter on the right and using untreated cedar planks. So each 6' picket needed to be cut down to 66", three high for a total of 6 pickets needed for the long sides. We'd be going 18" deep meaning we could make three cuts on one picket for our height on the sides- meaning we'd need 2 pickets total for the sides. We also got untreated 1x4x8's to cut in half for the legs but they needed to be stained to be protected from the weather. We got the minimal amount of stain possible in black for some contrast. The Mr cut the boards. We also had to look at the Aerogarden we've had sitting around since 2020 and see if the seed tray was going to be an option for me or not. The whack ass seed starter tray they sent me seems to be for a different model or something so we had to sacrifice 4 pod holders so the pump would fit. Did the pump work? Didn't seem to so I had to order a new one with filters for $15 so I can get these babies rolling today.
We started work on the planter boxes and the SWAT neighbor decided he was going to come out because it's what he does. Cue Italian rock music on my cute little bluetooth speaker to turn him 180 and back into the house. In typical fashion we had every screw available except the one we needed and do you think it could be available 1/2 mile up the road? Of course not. So the Mr made a screw run for 1 3/4" screws. We got those installed and I suggested a brace for the middle since we had extra of a 2x2 and it felt much more stable. The Mr noticed an oopsie and screws had to be removed so I figured now was the perfect time to try ye olde sawdust/wood glue wood filler trick I'd read of for many years. It seemed to plug it fine and I think it'll be covered by the legs but still. I popped in some turkey meatloaf from the freezer, whipped up some mashed potatoes and nuked some frozen carrots for dinner. I went down and flipped the legs over and painted the other sides. I'm really sweating it though on the amount of stain we went with. I know it was to save us money but it's gonna be close. I'm hoping we don't need one more. Then it was time to install the final major bathroom crown jewel and I was sweating it a little but it went on fine. I have many touch ups, caulking and a bit of repainting ahead of me but I'm hoping maybe a day or two. I got the next four legs going so we could hopefully have the legs ready to assemble today and maybe get the rest of the box part assembled. It was a productive Sunday and thoust art beat. I have some sweet peas I need to get in a seed starter situation because apparently they like it cooler and not under a bunch of lamps and stuff. They are finicky so it'll be a miracle if they do well but the place I want to put them is in the shade anyway with residual light so we'll see.
How was your weekend?
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